Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24

Reflection 

What was God thinking? 

What was Abraham thinking? 

What was Isaac thinking? 

What was Sarah thinking? 

So many hearts breaking at once. 

A story of unfathomable pain.
A test greater than any test. 

Unimaginable tension. 

Life and death held in suspension 

Moments apart. 

God steps in.
Abraham passes the test. 

Isaac lives.
A mother’s heart heals. 

What was God doing that day?
A question without an answer, perhaps? 

God was in the midst of it all.
In all things God is there.
In our tests and trials
God is there.
Trust in God. 

Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

Take a good look at me, God, my God;
    I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
    or laugh when I fall on my face.

I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
    I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
    I’m so full of answered prayers.

PsalmImmersion

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan reflects on Psalm 13 as a Psalm of Lament, you can access his great reflection on the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, Episode 384, Time: 36:37: Reflection on Psalm 13 by Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan

Psalm 13 in Song

Action:

Rewrite the words to Psalm 13, if you’d like to share them send them to us at minister@gungahlinuniting.org and we’ll share them with the community.

A Personal Meditation

Pentecost 3A [Ordinary 13A] or [Proper 8A] 2014

Source: The Timeless Psalms

Psalm 13

I find waiting for something or someone a very difficult challenge, as I like
to know where I am going, and what I need to do next.

If I am challenged by an issue or a problem, after prayer and very careful thought about what I believe is needed to achieve an agreed outcome, I like to act as quickly as possible to bring that project to fulfilment.

Yet, however carefully I pray and plan; however diligently I research issues and community challenges – that does not mean I am right! I have discovered this painful lesson several times, and waiting for the “dust to settle” is especially hard, and can be very isolating.

I think the Psalmist felt something of this pain as he sang: “…How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand…?” Whilst “enemy” may a strong word in my personal experiences, active negativity can wear away patience, and even any hope for a better outcome! So, I need to learn the
secret of faithful waiting, of trusting waiting to allow the opportunity for growth of new insights and discernment, as I wait on God for guidance and blessing.

Creative pause: Learning the secret of faithful waiting, of trusting waiting…

In the silence and isolation of my waiting, it has been very easy to forget that I do not wait alone. Because I initially received no answers to my prayers or my meditations, it was very easy to imagine that God was not there beside me in my waiting. After waiting with all the patience I could muster, with an active hope that my waiting will not be in vain, it was amazing how many new blessings awaited me just around the next corner of my life! At my age, you would think I had learned a lesson or two about waiting and leaving God to open doors for me!

And what amazing doors they have been, which led into most unexpected and unexplored horizons. The words of the Taizè chorus have been a blessing to me: “Wait for the Lord: keep watch, take heart!”1 So I am learning to patiently wait…

Creative pause: “Wait for the Lord: keep watch, take heart!”1

The tone of the Psalm changed after the anguish of isolation and waiting, and the pain of apparent separation from God, and yet it proved to be the best long-term result for the author. With a renewal of confidence in God and in his own abilities, and a change of direction, he could sing: “… But I trust… I will rejoice… I will sing…. because….”

That was both the Psalmist’s and my own experiences!

I could again trust and accept the guidance I had been given; I could hope in the new direction in my life; and I could finally leave the past behind, having learned a lesson from it, because God had been so very good to me again, and yet again.

Creative pause: The joys of confidently trusting in God’s unfailing love.

This piece invites us to enter the reading from the perspective of the Servants, Isaac and Abraham. Perhaps you might want to take the opportunity to write your own piece for Sarah, or God, or rewrite one for the other characters.

The Servants 

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24

We do as we’re told.
We always do as we’re told. We’re servants
and servants do as they’re told. 

It was early in the morning,
very early,
when Abraham our master called us 

and told us we were going on a journey. 

There was us and Abraham
and Abraham’s son Isaac
and a donkey.
Abraham’s wife Sarah stayed at home. 

We took wood with us, 

wood for an offering. 

Abraham our master 

is very religious. 

It was a long journey.
It took three days.
We had to camp each night,
us, Abraham, Isaac and the donkey 

On the third day Abraham said to us

“Stay here with the donkey.
Isaac and I will go and worship
and we will come back to you.” 

Abraham took the wood from the donkey’s back 

and gave it to Isaac to carry,
and Abraham took fire from the fire
we’d made to keep ourselves warm 

and he took a knife 

and he and Isaac 

walked on together up a mountain. 

We stayed by the fire.
We knew that Abraham was going to make an offering, 

but he had no lamb to offer,
it was all rather odd. 

We waited a long time by the fire. 

We waited and waited.
Abraham had told us to wait,
so we kept on waiting. 

It was getting dark
when we saw them returning in the distance,

 we’d hobbled the donkey
and kept the fire going. 

They both looked very tired,
you could tell something 

had happened to them, 

and there was blood on Abraham’s clothes
but none on Isaac’s. 

They said very little that night.
They seemed wary of each other.
The next morning we packed our things together 

and set off home for Beersheba. 

On the journey home
Abraham and Isaac walked with each other, 

they talked sometimes,
but they were also silent for long periods. 

Something had obviously happened to both of them, 

something important,
something too important to be discussed with servants, 

something that had changed them. 

In the days that followed
rumours abounded.
Sarah seemed really upset about something 

and kept Isaac very close to her. 

People asked us what had happened 

but we could tell them very little.
It was between Isaac and Abraham 

what had happened on the mountain. 

Between Abraham and Isaac 

and that God they believe in. 

Isaac 

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24

When I think of that day I shudder.
It was years ago
but I remember it as clearly as yesterday 

that trip up the mountain:
me asking questions,
dad strangely silent. 

How would you feel if your dad
for no reason
tied you up 

and picked up a knife
and raised his hand in the air
and you thought he was going to kill you? 

Yes we talked about it afterwards
we talked about it all the way home.
At times he seemed as scared as me about what had happened 

but he still trusted that God he believed in. 

Mum was incandescent
when I told her what had happened. 

She was so angry
she didn’t talk to him for days. 

I was wary of him after that, 

our relationship changed,
it had to really. 

I sometimes hear people talking
about the God of Abraham and Isaac
as if me and dad had the same kind of trust in God

I don’t think we do. 

When I think of that day I still shudder
It was years ago
but I remember it as clearly as yesterday 

that trip up the mountain. 

Abraham 

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24

When I heard God calling me 

I always answered:
“Yes, here I am.” 

That day part of me wished I hadn’t. 

I will go down in the history of my people 

as the one who was obedient to God,
as the one who God blessed. 

I will also go down
as the one who was ready to sacrifice his son 

when God asked him to. 

Isaac, Isaac
what did I do to you that day? 

God, what was I thinking of? 

God, what were you thinking of? 

God, please never ask me to do anything like that ever again.